Friday, September 30, 2011

New Concepts...Part 2: Clean Finishes

On Impact, RAW, and Smackdown, a great many fans are getting sick of the way their upper card matches are ending. With so much interference, it really becomes tiresome getting stoked from week to week. And why not? There's no need to even watch the last match on the card if you've got an idea how it's going to end anyway. Once in a while, we like to see everyone else banned from ringside. Once in a while, we'd like to have impartial referees and two competitors who simply want to win on their own.

You know what made the best matches of the year in virtually every year for the past decade? No outside interference. Seriously...look it up....PWI's Match of the Year dating back 10 years. Without exceptions, each winner AND 1st Runner Up had no interference. It seems only fitting to note the fact that in the past 10 years, Kurt Angle has had either first place or first runner up honors for eight of the last ten years.

A run-in might further a feud or create one, but if you ask me, it can also put more distance between the place where the story is and the place it needs to finally arrive. If used sparingly, interference is a potent tool in a writer's arsenal. If overdone, it hamstrings the rest. Cynicism begins to set in and then you've not only lost a good story, you've lost the fans you were trying to bring with you.

Let's use Bound for Glory as an example. Interference has been used to begin the faction, to further the power struggle, and to put the faction to rest. I expect a run-in during Sting and Hogan's match. I also expect some redemption from one Jeff Hardy to finally sound the death bell to bring everything back full circle. What can I say? Sometimes it works.